Sheila threw all of Bud’s shirts out of the third story window. He stood outside looking up, a shirt draped over half his head.

“Are you upset?” Bud shouted up to the window.

“Take it, Bud. I never want to see you again.” Sheila replied, wiping tears from her face.

“You didn’t answer my question…”

 

 

Bud collected his shirts and walked away. Over the thirteen years they were together, it wasn’t the first time she caught him in the honey jar with his bare hands, but it would be the last. That was her honey. She couldn’t have that.

Covered in sticky gold, Bud went to the closest place to get cleaned up. His brother Benson was, as always, in his parents’ basement just up the street.

 

“Hey Benson… Sheila kicked me out for good.” Bud dropped his large ball of clothes on the ground.

“Whoa man. That’s…” Benson closed his eyes in extremely deep thought, looking for the right words to say to his brother in his time of need. Would he be the one to cheer Bud up and get him back on his feet? He considered giving helpful advice to guide Bud towards a happy life with or without Sheila. His brother looked at him, awaiting his sentence to be completed. Benson opened an eye and peeked, but pretended he didn’t when Bud noticed. He went back to wondering how to proceed. It began to dawn on him that he had never been in a relationship himself. It was difficult to find a partner in the basement. Back to the sentence, he thought, he stalled enough. Then he thought about the nature of words and ambiguity. He needed to be as clear as possible so that Bud didn’t get the wrong idea. He was ready. Benson had the perfect conclusion to his sentence after much deliberation. “...bad.”

Bud was frustrated but appreciated his brother’s kind words. He paced the basement floor in deep thought. All the times he shared his own honey with Sheila and now she won’t do the same? He became furious. He realized he was now on the market of love. In rage, the old punching bag hanging from the ceiling received a right hook. BAM. It flew across the room.

 

Benson turned from the TV and glared at his brother with as much intrigue as he could muster. Not only had Bud somehow blasted the punching bag across the room with his bare hands, he was also levitating and glowing. It took him a few moments to focus and return to normal.

“Hey, do that again, bro.” Benson requested.

With ease, Bud did it again. “You’re floaty….. and …. glowy.”  Benson exclaimed.

At the door, Sheila opened and leaned on the frame. She somehow completely ignored the glowing and floating.

“Come back, Bud… I overreacted.”

“Hey, Bud, look, it’s Sheila.” Benson informed his brother.

“Really?” Bud responded to Sheila.

“Really... what do ya say?”

“I say, let’s go home.”

Upon speaking those words, Bud’s glow faded and he fell to the ground. It was clear what needed to be done. He backed away and sat on the couch next to Benson.

“Aren’t you coming?” Sheila questioned, confusion spreading across her face.

“Nah.” Bud answered.

His refusal gave him the glow back and the couch floated. Benson was asleep by this point. Sheila buzzed off in a huff and Bud knew who he had to be to maintain his power. He would be on the market of love indefinitely, as he was now Bachelor Bear.